SCOTLAND's medal hopes at Glasgow 2014 have been dealt a blow after the board of the national gymnastics association announced plans to resign en masse.
The latest upheaval follows a damning report by a former Registrar General into alleged mismanagement at the Scottish Gymnastics Association (SGA). That led Government agency sportscotland to withdraw £700,0000 of funding.
It means the SGA has to recruit an entirely new leadership team two years before the Commonwealth Games. President Lynn Milne said she and the rest of the six-strong board will quit at its annual meeting on November 25.
Sportscotland withdrew Stirling-based SGA's funding after Duncan Macniven criticised its disciplinary procedures and child protection policy amid claims of bullying and chaotic leadership in his report published in September.
The resignations will require the SGA to find a new president, chairman, deputy chair, technical director, education ethics and welfare director, financial director, legal director, marketing director and two others.
"They are doing this in order to safeguard our association and very importantly, the jobs of our staff," said Mrs Milne.
Sportscotland stepped in to secure the eight posts of development and high performance staff at the SGA by funding them directly. It said it would only resume discussions with the association "when our confidence in its board and senior management is restored and they have a clear mandate from gymnastics clubs."
Mrs Milne told clubs and members: "I have asked at many AGMs for people to come forward to fill the places on the board but it is now more important than ever you get people on board with the appropriate qualifications, skills and enthusiasm to take our association forward.
"This is your chance to make a difference, to get our association back on a strong footing."
A circular promoting the vacancies talks about the SGA embarking on "the most exciting time in the organisation's 100-plus years of history" with the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and the World Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow in 2015: "We now require candidates for the board with the necessary enthusiasm, skills and experience to capitalise on the opportunities both of these events will afford our sport, on both a sporting and a commercial basis, and to ensure the long-term growth and sustainability of gymnastics in Scotland" it said.
Mr Macniven found serious shortcomings in the organisation's leadership and said its handling of the disciplinary process was "unsatisfactory". Mrs Milne has said the allegations were unfounded.
She said the SGA requested a delay in the preparation of the report due to "legal proceedings" and was given assurances it would not be completed until it was in a position to co-operate fully. However, she claimed the report was then completed without the SGA's evidence.
Mr Macniven also said the management had not followed policy when dealing with a child protection issue relating a member of staff facing disciplinary action. Two senior staff were dismissed for gross misconduct. It followed a complaint that a worker had gained assistance solely for his club to obtain a lease of Aberdeen College premises.
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